The future of Congo: Is the DRC a failed State?

Presenters Alex Jakana from BBC Africa and Julian Keane from The World Today, will be joined by an audience from the Congolese capital as they ask leading figures about whether their country is a failed state and whether there is a chance for Congo's vast natural resources to help the country rebuild itself.

Today is the last day of campaigning ahead of Congo's presidential and parliamentary elections, and the debate ends a week of broadcasting from throughout this vast country by the BBC.

The reports have highlighted the way many Congolese lives are dominated by physical and economic insecurity.

Every day there are random incidents of violence, many of which are usually unreported, and across large areas of this vast country the rule of law appears to have broken down.

Many observers maintain the effect of these many problems is to mark the DRC as a failed state.

But is this the full story?

Could any country faced with an inheritance of enormous wealth and endemic warfare survive?